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Ríos continued: “We call on local authorities to help victims of this type of abuse…and to educate LGBTI youth about their rights and about the dangers they face, in order to prevent further abuses.”

The attacks highlight how Chile’s LGBT+ community still faces the threat of physical violence, despite legislative advances in recent years.

In 2017, a Chilean gay man was assaulted with a broken bottle a homophobic attack, which left him needing 15 stitches on his face.

Gay rights in Chile have progressed in recent years

Same-sex sexual activity has been legal in Chile since 1999.

The country also introduced anti-discrimination and hate crime laws in 2012 in a bid to provide protections for the LGBT+ community.

A bill to legalise equal marriage was signed by the then president Michelle Bachelet in August 2017 and is awaiting approval from the two houses of congress.

In November, Chilean president Sebastian Pinera, who took up his role in March, signed a landmark bill into law, which allows trans people above the age of 14 to update their name and gender on official records.

The law marks a progressive shift in Chile, which is strongly Roman Catholic and became one of the last countries in the world to legalise divorce in 2004.